Yes, I agree, Sleepy Rosie.

Manipulative and cynical behaviour is just that, whoever does it to us. Far and away the biggest offenders in this regard have to be advertisers and the whole advertising industry. One of my favourite lines from John Berger's "Ways of Seeing" is "advertising steals a woman's love of her herself and sells it back to her for the price of the product"

I suppose some of the evangelical Christians are so convinced of the rightness of their cause and the urgency for doing it, that they forget people need to approach God freely, "without a gun to their heads". That, and of course, the unscrupulous ones who've used evangelism and people's gullibility to rake in a fortune and live it up in style.

I believe these are actually in the minority but their actions are so flabbergasting when exposed that we overlook all the 'normal' Christians quietly beavering away at their thing.

And you'll find charlatans like the money-evangelists in all areas of spirituality and religion - for exampe, pick up any occult review magazine and there are pages and pages of ads promising you love, money, the world, the AMAZING secret of the SECRET stone of GOBBLEDIGOOK, yours for only 9.99 dollars! As well as spurious fortune tellers that will advise you on your life over the phone (they don't even need to meet you in person and the cheque can be sent through the post / we accept VISA etc.,) but won't be round to bail you out when their 'advice' (most of which consists of what are called Barnum statements such as you find on personality tests e.g "you have a deep desire to help people" / "you may be feeling under pressure concerning a person in a position of authority" / "a problem shared is a problem halved") goes horribly wrong.

I've had some personal experience of the above.


For more see -

The Psychobabble link